The present invention relates to improvements to packaging assemblies intended for the extemporaneous preparation of suspensions or solutions of an active product.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show a known prior art assembly.
Said assembly consists of two main parts.
First, the assembly contains two hermetically sealed bottles A and B. The first of these bottles A is intended to contain a first active product, generally in dry powder form. The second bottle is intended to contain a second product, generally a liquid in which the active product is to be placed in solution or suspension at the time it is administered.
Second, the assembly comprises linking means to place the two bottles A and B in communication, for the purpose firstly of adding the liquid to the first bottle, and secondly of aspirating the solution or suspension thus formed into the second bottle.
For this purpose, the second bottle B, made in flexible material, is inverted and screwed into a bushing 1 of the first bottle A. This bushing 1 comprises an upper part 2, having an inner thread 4, and a lower part 3 having an inner shoulder 5.
The second bottle B ends in a dropper 6, joined to the body 7 by a shoulder 8 having an outer thread.
Also, bottle A, generally in glass, is closed by a stopper 9 in elastomeric material, through which a hole 10 passes, that is sealed by a protective membrane 11 that can be perforated. The membrane is made in aluminium for example.
When bottle B is screwed onto bottle A by matching the threads 4 and 8, the dropper 6 comes to perforate the membrane 11 and enters into the hole 10 thereby placing the two bottles in communication.
The joining of the two bottles is made via the single part 1, this part being secured to bottle A by press-fitting the shoulder 5 onto a neck of bottle A.
To facilitate centering and preparation of the components relative to each other, provision is made to place vertical ridges 13 around the neck of bottle A below a press-fit collar 12 called a “bead”. Initial press-fitting of 5 is made temporarily on the bead 12 and then the bushing is pushed down onto the neck, final press-fitting being achieved below the bead 12 as can be seen FIG. 1. These provisions are made to facilitate mounting of the bushing 1 onto the stopper 9 and bottle A, and to achieve less costly assembly. The neck of bottle A generally has two press-fit collars.
Said assembly has several drawbacks.
First, the neck of the bottle has two collars 12 which may hamper fixing of the bushing 1 onto the bottle A. Also, the two collars and the ridges are not optimal in terms of quantity of material used to manufacture the bottle.
Secondly, the stopper 9 in elastomeric material and the sealing membrane 11 to be perforated are not optimal either, since they consist of parts separate from one another and separate from the bushing. Fixing of the stopper, membrane and bushing require difficult centering.
For all these reasons, the cost price of the parts and assembly time are relatively high.